Free pet microchipping clinic held in Chico

The Friends of the Chico Animal Shelter and Sarah Richardson's Canine Connection came together Sunday to help make finding a lost pet much easier

Posted: May 5, 2019 5:28 PM

Updated: May 5, 2019 7:08 PM

Posted By: Luna Nas

CHICO, Calif.-- The Friends of the Chico Animal Shelter and Sarah Richardson’s Canine Connection held a free microchip Clinic Sunday afternoon at the Canine Connection, located at 10 Seville Ct. in Chico.

The clinic was open to everyone, regardless of financial status. The clinic had one thousand microchips to give out today. Financial support for the microchip clinic was provided by a grant from North Valley Community Foundation with additional financial support by the North Valley Animal Disaster Group.

Inserting the microchip was a quick and simple process.

"A microchip comes with a little plastic implanter, it's kind of like a shot and microchip is the size of a grain of rice," said Shelly Rogers, President of Friends of the Chico Animal Shelter.

The microchip is implanted on the back of an animal, between the shoulder blades. When a pet is lost, the reunification process can be as simple as scanning the microchip that leads to the pet owner's contact information using a barcode.

Organizers said this is the best way to link pets to owners in case of an emergency such as the Camp Fire.

“The Camp Fire was a real-life demonstration in the effectiveness of microchips. Pets that had a microchip could be reunited with their families immediately,” said Rogers.

She goes on to say the Camp Fire also showed us that a low percentage of pets in our community are microchipped.

"We want to help by providing microchips at no cost. It’s the best and fastest way to reunite a lost pet with its family,” said Rogers.

The microchip also came with free lifetime registration, and information on how a pet owner can update their pet’s microchip information. With today's turnout they hope to hold another free clinic in October.

CLICK HERE to donate to help the animals of the Chico Animal Shelter, or see when another no-cost microchip clinic will be held.